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NASA's Deep Impact

Posted by timothy on from the metric-bathtub-or-imperial dept.

NivenMK1 writes "The Seattle Times has an interesting article on NASA's plan to nail the comet Tempel 1 with a chunk of copper the size of a bathtub on July 4 this year. This copper 'bullet' is intended to strike the comet at approximately 23,000 mph and hit with a force equivalent to 4.7 tons of TNT. Scientists hope to discover what exactly the comet is made of and what changes have occurred to the outer layers with reference to the core."

8 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I don't know about you... by Councilor+Hart · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    You are an american, aren't you?
    Destroying an entire building filled with a few hundred people in it, while actually you only want to take out one guy.

    Oh, and stop asking us to do your dirty work.

  2. Re:Uh.... does this strike anybody else as wrong? by Nate+B. · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Yes it does. I'm quite surprised that this hasn't hit the major media outlets and caused a stir. I'm sure it probably will as July 4th draws near.

    I think that it is one thing to send a probe to something and explore/sample it in as non-destructive manner as possible, but it's quite another to (perhaps) wantonly destroy something. We don't have the slightest clue about a comet's purpose other than it's eye-candy in our sky. I'd be very interested to see why and how this one got through all the layers of bureaucracy as a Good Idea (TM).

    At first glance this just seems like a poor idea with possible ramifications we can't fathom. But then, I don't know as much as a rocket scientist...

    --

    "Insanity is doing the same thing over again expecting a different result."
  3. Who Cares? by Simonetta · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    This copper 'bullet' is intended to strike the comet at approximately 23,000 mph and hit with a force equivalent to 4.7 tons of TNT. Scientists hope to discover what exactly the comet is made of and what changes have occurred to the outer layers with reference to the core."

    You Americans always find it so easy to forget with your amazing (and amazingly expensive) projects and stunts that your country is broke, trillions of dollars in debt, and living primarily on the welfare of international bankers (primarily Asian).

    Wake up and take a sober and realistic accounting of your new relative position in the world. And leave the expensive and worthless stunts to Hollywood.

    1. Re:Who Cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      Our country has been trillions of dollars in debt for how long now? exactly. At least since the 80's if not longer.

      We still manage to do better than 90% of the countries out there. Probably better than where ever the fuck you're from.

      So shut your fucking pie hole and go back to being jealous of us you pathetic retard.

    2. Re:Who Cares? by PeelBoy · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Get fucking real.

      Have you taken a look at the rest of the world lately?

  4. Re:Oops by FatherOfONe · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Wow John Kerry is now posting on Slashdot!

    Sorry you lost John, but I thought it was funny you are now blaming Fox news and the OBL tape on your loss.

    Well seeing that you have a lot more time on your hands now, perhaps we will see more of your post on Slashdot :-)

    Oh yeah please give my simpathy to Dan Rather, he did everything he could to get you elected and it cost him his job.

    --
    The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
  5. Re:I don't know about you... by Tuna_Shooter · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    What a retarded thing to say. Can you say sore loser. ?

    --
    *--- Sometimes a majority only means that all the fools are on the same side. ---*
  6. NASA's luck. by Hobadee · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    With NASA's luck, 1 of 2 things will happen:
    1. It will hit the comet but they will have done the calculations wrong (because they forgot to convert centimeters to inches) and it will re-direct the comet on a collision course with the Earth.

    2. They will hit the comet, but at the moment it hits and they are supposed to be observing it, they will see a hot girl changing in the house next to the observatory and aim thier telescopes there.

    Alright mods, do your worst!

    --
    ...Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror, and you would not have been informed.